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When the united states invaded Iraq
in 2003, the goal was to get rid of the Saddam Hussein's regime
and create a new democracy there.
OK, as General Norman Schwartzkopf put it
he said I picked up vibes that you're going to have this massive strike with massive weaponry
and basically that's going to be it. we just clean up the battlefield after that
now we call this the the cliche shock and awe weaponry. OK well
the planners
unleash their war in the following way consider this fact
in 1991,
when they fought
Saddam Hussein in the in the persian gulf war
in the desert
with the limited objective of ejecting him from Kuwait
they had twice as many ground troops to do that job
as they will have in 2003
with a much more ambitious job
of decapitating the regime, getting rid of Saddam Hussein and taking over the whole country.
just absorb that for a moment.
how on earth can you possibly fulfill that mission
with that small a number of troops?
the hope was
that you could bomb
them with precision raids and now
is it ever really precision when coordinates come from the air? arguable
I suppose
you could bomb and decapitate the regime
then you would have this maneuver war mainly through the desert bypassing the cities,
dashing for Baghdad
ultimately taking control of Baghdad, either capturing or killing Saddam and all of
those disciples that he has there in control
So
this is the concept
the problem is 70 percent of the Iraqi population lives in cities at that point
70 percent.
uh, there's really no possibility for controlling the country in any meaningful way
unless you control
the cities
and to control the cities
as I think maybe we all realize
means a lot of boots on the ground.
and really at that point
it negates your entire war-making concept
because it's predicated on the fire power of shock and awe and the quickness maneuver
warfare
well, just consider the traffic right outside this building
could you have slashing maneuver warfare right outside this building?
how is this any different in a corner on Baghdad?
in Baghdad some place, or Najaf?
or Fallujah?
or Karbala?
really not that different. the buildings may look different but the same concept. isn't it?
the deserts are the deserts, as they tend to be not that
conclusive because human beings don't really live in the desert
ok, so if you're going to control the country
you probably going to have to control the cities and that's the essential rub of the problem.